Cable connecter



'Jan 6, 1931. 1.. H. CHURCH 1,787,668

CABLE CONNEGTER Filed D86. 27 192 lNVENTOR Lug/ s 1 CAl/LTCh T RNEY5 Patented Jan. 6, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LEWIS H. CHURCH, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE THOMAS & BETTS 00., OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY CABLE CONNECTER Application filed December 27, 1926. Serial No. 157,012.

This invention relates to cable connecters and to bushings therefor. More particularly the invention relates to connecters and bushings capable of universally anchoring all sizes, shapes and kinds of cable to electrio outlet and fixtures boxes, i. e. it relates to adapter connecters. Especially the invention relates to improvements in bushings for use in connection with adapter cable connecters when the connecter is to be used with armored cable.

Broadly, an object of the invention is to produce a quick detachable bushing whether for connecters of the adapter type or of the usual kind to thereby convert a connecter for use with unarmored cable to one for use with armored cable or vice versa.

Another object of the invention is to produce a bushing of low cost and which is capable of being quickly and easily attached to or detached from a cable connecter so the bushing may be used if working with metal armored cable or not used if working with unarmored cable as the case may be, whether the connecter is of the adapter type or is of the ordinary type.

Accordingly, a bushing is so constructed and arranged as to be snapped onto a cable connecter to act as a stop for the ragged sharp edge of a metal armored cable as well as to guide the wires and protect their insulation from abrasion by the sharp cable end. More particularly, a full fashioned unmutilated bushing is carried with an expansible sleeve complementary to the interior surface of a sleeve type connecter member, and is adapted to be snapped onto a connecter or within a sleeve type connecter when metal armored cable is to be hushed and attached to the box.

A further object is to produce a bushing -to work with an adapter type connecter of the kind including a cable clamp which may or may not have shutters to close the ends of the sleeve or to close a box hole, or to Work with a connecter having only an operating member, such as a screw, to clamp the cable. The bushing may be readily inserted within the connecter member and clamped therewithin by spring snap means and by the cable secured to the connecter.

The invention also seeks to provide a removable snap-in bushing which may be readily fashioned from a single piece stamping and which is capable of being readily con- A still further object of the invention is v to produce a cable connecter including a cable clamp plate having means to guide the movement of the clamp plate in relation to and in or on the connecter member to maintain the necessary working relation or alignment between the clamp plate and operating means without obstructon by the detachable bushing. To this end a shutter, or ear on the cable clamp plate or a rib thereon, is adapted to be guided by a notch in the connecter member and to reciprocate freely in the weakening groove and/or a cut away portion of the snap sleeve of the bushing.

These and-other objects of the invention and the means for their attainment will be more apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawing illustrat-v ing embodiments and examples of the invention, in which:

The first three figures show a type of adapter connecter which readily combines and works with the snap-on bushing constituting this invention.

Figure 1 is a transverse sectional View on the line 1-1 of Figure 2; Figure 2 is a side elevation; and Figure 3 is an end elevation of the adapter connector.

Figures 4 to 7 inclusive show the snap-0n with bushing attached, mounted in an elecarmored or unarmored cable,

trio outlet box with an armored cable secured therein.

Figure 10 is 'a View similar to Figure 8 but with the adapter clamp omitted to show the application of the invention, i. e. the bushing. to an ordinary non-adapter connecter.

Electric outlet boxes B are manufactured with knock out openings or holes H to receive either soft or armored cable, i. e. metal anchored therein by cable connecters and the insulation covered wires V are manipulated inside the box B to make electrical connections in the usual way. My improved bushing is more particularly for use on metal armored cable C, but where soft cable such as fiber armored cable is to be attached to the box, this bushing may be cast aside and not used if that is desired.

A cable connecter to which the improved bushing may be applied is illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3 as comprising a connecter member 11, usually a sleeve formed from a resilient metal plate or stamping, which is rolled into cylindrical shape, with box hole anchorage means such as a groove or grooves 12 proximate one or both ends, Opposite edges of the stamping come together to form a a longitudinal split 13 which permits the connecter member 11 tov be contracted, that is, its circumference reduced, for insertion within the box hole H. The box hole edge is engaged upon expansion of the connecter member 11 within one of the grooves 12 to effect anchorage of the connecter member 11 in a box hole. While a sleeve type connecter member 11 is shown, other forms of construction may be used upon which to mount and carry the movable parts of the conmeter.

The connecter member 11 is adapted to receive a. cable C, either an armored or a soft cable. Frequently, it is necessary to secure small size cable C in a standard size box hole H and the open space through the connecter sleeve leading into the box not occupied by the cable, requires box hole or sleeve closing means to prevent the entrance of dirt and plaster into the outlet box.

-Within or upon the connecter member 11 there is mounted an adapter element comprising a cable clamp plate 16 formed from a plate or stamping whereof the respective ends 17 may be substantially circular to form closing shutters at one or both ends of the sleeve. Furthermore the shutters 17 and 19 close the box hole which is important. These shutter ends 17 are bent upwardly, are parallel, and serve as positioning or guiding means as well, whereby the adapter element l617 may be moved laterally or radially in respect to-the connecter axis and in respect to the axis of cable C and in respect to clamp operating means such as a screw 18 threaded through a hole formed in the connecter member 11 to force the cable clamp plate 16 against the cable C to clamp it in the connecter and thereby cause the expansion of the connecter sleeve 11 within the box hole H to anchor both the connecter and cable therein.

The shutter ends 17 may also serve as positioning means for the clamp plate 16 to prevent axial or rotary displacement and as guiding means therefor as it is moved toward or away from the cable C by the screw 18. To retain the cable clamp plate 16 in alignment with the operating means or screw 18 and to prevent rotationof the adapter 1617 inthe sleeve 11 about the axis of the cable C, clamp plate guide means are provided between the clamp plate 16 and the connecter member 11. For this purpose there is formed a rib 19 on one surface of a shutter 17 to slidably engage within a notch 21 formed in the sleeve 11, the rib and notch being preferably disposed in the same longitudinal plane in which the screw 18 operates. This rib and notch means is a mere example of instrumentalities to prevent rotation of the sleeve 11 in relation to the clamp plate 16.

It is necessary in some instances to attach metal armored cable to the box B, while, in other instances, fibre covered or what may be termed soft cable must be secured to the box. To prevent the sharp jagged armored cable end from projecting into the outlet box and to also protect the insulation cox'ered w res from cuts or abrasions thereby, the inventlon seeks. in one of its aspects, to provlde a quick detachable bushing which may or may not be used. with the connecter as circumstances demand. In other words, the mechanic on the job is provided with one standard form of connecter 11 which may be used with all varieties of cable, and is provided with a bushing 22 which may be detached if soft cable is to be installed in the box B. An example of the improved conveniently detachable bushing is separately shown in Figures 4 through 7. The bushing comprises a solid full fashioned unbroken ring bushed portion or annulus 22 thru which wires l/V are led into the box B, and having formed on the periphery thereof a snap-in means, such as a sleeve 23. The bushing end or sleeve 23 is W grooved as at 24 to conform to the interior surface of the connecter sleeve 11 in the area including one of the box hole anchorage grooves 12. The snap sleeve 23, which is generally cylindrical, is cut away at one portion thereof as at 25, to form a wide open notch and permit contraction of the sleeve 23 for insertion thereof within the connecter sleeve 11 and to permit radial free movement of the clamp plate 16 with the connecter member 11, and the opening 25 in the bushing sleeve is wide enough to permit passage of the clamp plate 16 therethru. As a weakening means, to permit ready contraction of the snap-in sleeve 23, a circumferentially extending slot 26 partly separates the snap-in sleeve 23 from the bushing end 22.

The snap-in bushing sleeve 23 may be contracted and inserted within the end of the sleeve 11 until the groove portion 24 snaps onto the inner face of the anchorage groove 12, since the sleeve 23 is split as at 25 and 26 to permit sleeve contraction. When the sleeve 23 is released on entering the connector member 11 it expands causing the cooper-.

ating grooved surface 24 and the convex inner surface formed by the groove 24 in sleeve 22 to interengage and retain the connecter 11 and bushing 22 together.

After the cable C is inserted and the screw 18 run down against the cable C or against the clamp plate 16, the snap-in sleeve 23 is firmly clamped against the connecter sleeve 11 and firmly retained in place both by the interengaging grooves 12 and 24 and by the pressure of the cable inside the connecter and the bushing is permanently anchored to the inner end of the connecter inside the box to protect and guide the wires W and stop the 'cable C thereagainst.

Figure 10 illustrates a cable connecter 11,

combined with a snap-in bushing in which the adapter element is omitted. In this connecter. the sleeve 11 receives the grooved expansiblc snap-in sleeve 23 in the manner previously described and the bushing 22 carried by the sleeve 23 serves as a stop for cable within sleeve 11 which cable is clamped against. the connecter sleeve 11 and snap-in sleeve 23 by the operating screw 18, as will be understood. The connecter in Figure 10 is the same construction as in all the other connecter views and is merely presented to show how the mechanic on the job may bend one of the shutters down and remove the adapter element 16-19 out of the sleeve thru the slot 13 if it is found that, in any particular job. the adapter is not wanted. For very large cable this may sometimes be necessary.

It is seen how I have produced a small size bushing of short length and small size which can be used with a connecter 11 having a large size shutter plate 17. The bushing sleeve 23 is adequate to hold the bushing 22-23 in ing will occur to those skilled in the art and in their use individually and collectively without departing from the spirit of the prin ciple of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A connecter including box hole edge anchorage means at each end thereof, and comprising, a connecter member, operating means carried therewith; and a detachable connecter bushing including, a bushing ring, a sleeve carried with the ring, means formed on the sleeve on the ring to permit contraction and expansion thereof in relation to the ring, and means included on the sleeve to engage the anchorage means at either end of the connecter member inside thereof.

2. A connecter comprising, a longitudinally split expansible connecter sleeve provided with a box hole anchorage groove, operating means to engage a cable, and a separable bushing to be carried with the connecter, provided with a sleeve longitudinally split to permit contraction and expansion. and said split bushing sleeve being provided with a. circumferential groove to engage the anchorage groove of the connecter sleeve.

3. A connecter comprising a longitudinally split expansible connecter sleeve formed with a box hole anchorage groove, operating means to engage a cable, and a separable bushing provided with a longitudinally split snap sleeve partly separated from the bushing whereof the edges of the split are spaced to permit expansion and contraction, and said split bushing sleeve being provided with a circumferential groove to engage the anchorage groove of the connecter sleeve.

4. A connecter comprising a longitudinaL ly split expansible connecter sleeve having box hole anchorage means, a movable cable clamp plate carried with the connecter, an operating screw to engage the cable clamp plate, and a separable bushing having a longitudinally split snap sleeve spaced by a peripheral slot from the bushing, and whereof the edges of the split are spaced apart for the passage of the cable clamp plate.

5. A connecter comprising a longitudinally split expansible connecter sleeve formed with a box hole anchorage groove, a cable clamp plate carried with the connecter and formed with a shutter at each end to close the sleeve, an operating screw to engage the cable clamp plate and a separable bushing having a longitudinally split snap sleeve, said snap sleeve being partly spaced from the bushing by a peripherally extending slot in which a shutter operates.

6. A connecter comprising a longitudinally split expansible connecter sleeve formed 5 with a box hole anchorage groove, a cable clamp plate carried with the connecter and formed with guide means to engage the sleeve, operating means for the cable clamp plate, and a separable bushing having a longitudinally split snap sleeve whereof the edges of the split are spaced apart to permit expansion and contraction and for the passage of guide means.

7. A separable bushing for electrical Wiring connecters comprising, a rigid annulus to bush a cable, and a longitudinally split expansible sleeve carried with the rigid annulus.

8. A separable bushing for connecters comprising, an annulus to bush a cable, and

a longitudinally split expansible sleeve carried with the annulus and partly spaced tll erefrom by a circumferentially extending s ot.

9. A connecter bushing comprising; an

apertured ring thru which Wires pass including, a sleeve integral with the ring, a peripheral slot in part separating the sleeve from the apertured ring, a slit connecting with the peripheral slot and extending thru the sleeve to the other end thereof, and means carried with the sleeve to detachably engage a connecter.

10. A connector bushing comprising; an

5 apertured ring thru which wires pass including, a sleeve integral with the ring, a peripheral slot in partseparating the sleeve from the apertured ring, a slit connecting with the peripheral slot and extending thru the '10 sleeve to the other end thereof, and said sleeve provided with a peripheral groove to detachably engage a like groove in a connecter.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature. I LEWIS H. CHURCH. 

